


Small Favors

by orphan_account



Category: Girl Genius - Phil and Kaja Foglio
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 14:27:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Times are tough for wild Jägers without a Heterodyne in sight.  Jenka picks up the pieces of her boys (in a very literal way).  A Jäger friendship fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Favors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Silverfox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverfox/gifts).



"Hyu," said Jenka slowly, savoring each syllable, "iz all _eeeediots_."

"Ve had to check it out!" Dimo insisted. "Vot – hyu vant ve should be vandering like this forever?"

"Maybe a leetle more care vould be a good idea, yah?" The smell of blood was strong in her nostrils – the metallic smell of human blood, but then also the stench of sulfur, of acrid Jäger blood. Behind her, Füst bellowed irritably. "Hyu iz supposed to be schmott guys – vot iz all dis, den?"

"Dey vuz saying he vuz a Heterodyne," said Oggie, with only a trace of a whine in his voice. "He had de Spark, he vuz on his vay to Mechanicsburg, so ve tink ve come give him a hand, see if it'z true."

"Give him a _hand_?" Jenka waved Maxim's severed right hand at them. "Hyu does know dot is a metaphor, yez? Iz not meant for _literal application_."

"Huh?" said Oggie.

"So vot, hyu tink ve take him to Mamma Gkika's?" asked Dimo. "Even if dot had been a Heterodyne, all de little squashy pieces de Baron left of him vouldn't be able to do much of de patchin'-up." He scratched his chin. "Not even enuff left for a good stew, hmph."

"Mamma Gkika's?" Jenka huffed. "For vun hand? _Pleez_." She retrieved her bags from Füst. There was a needle and some tough thread; she pulled off a long piece and used one canine to cut it free of the spool. "She vill tink I am coddling hyu."

Her boys had built a campfire – she stuck the needle into the flames, watching the bright silver turn blue-black. She waited until her hand started to hurt, and then removed the needled a few moments after that.

Maxim was pale purple against the blankets Oggie and Dimo had thrown across him. He was still out cold; Jenka was glad for small favors as she clamped the stump of his arm between her knees and jammed the itinerant hand down on top of it. The needle wove in and out through the skin. She broke the thread when she was finished, and put the sewn-up arm back under the blanket. "It vill mend," she said. "Probably. Mostly." She poked for a while at the other wounds on his chest. The deepest was only as long as her finger; she deemed it minor enough not to merit a trip to Mamma's. "Now," she said, as she stood up. "I have some time to rip hyu arms off and beat hyu stupid vit dem. Stupid-er, at least. Den ven Maxim vake up, I give hyu two a break vhile hy heng him upside-down by his—"

Dimo had edged between her and Oggie, and put up his hands. "Give him a break, Jenka," he said. "He is only, vot – three hunnert years old? Just a boy! He vant only to be back vit de pack." He grinned widely, showing a broad collection of yellowed fangs. "Hyu remember vot it is like, to be young and stupid?"

"Yah," said Jenka, and sighed. "And also I know vot it is like to be old and stupid." She settled back down beside the fire, resting on her haunches. "Hyu better not tell nobody how soft I iz gettink. Next ting hyu know, I iz going to be knitting hyu mittens and feeding hyu sveets and never breaking hyu fingers ven hyu iz _so_ stupid."

"Hoy," said Oggie," and shoved Dimo to the side. "He iz coming around!" He joined Jenka at Maxim's side. With two claws, he pulled Maxim's eyelid open. "Hey brodder! How hyu feeling?"

Maxim made a noise roughly similar to those made by Füst when Jenka roused him from hibernation. Oggie began poking him with one toe, until he was stopped abruptly by a punch to the side of the head from Jenka.

"How," said Maxim, cracking his eyes open, "how bad iz it?"

"Vell," Jenka hedged, "I seen better, but I tink hyu hand vill vork again. Hyu know … mostly."

"My hand?" Maxim sat up quickly, making Oggie fall over backward. He began pawing around through the blankets around him. "My _hand_? Iz hyu all nuts? Hy gots two hands! Hy only gots vun _hat_!"

"Sheesh," said Dimo. "Hyu tink ve gonna leave hyu hat behind? Vot kind of brodders hyu tink ve are, anyvay?"

"I dun tink hyu vants an answer to dot," said Jenka.

Oggie dropped Maxim's hat onto his lap. It was slightly squashed, spattered with blood in two different vibrant shades, and the brim was partly ripped away from the crown. Jenka sighed noisily as three pairs of bright Jäger eyes fixed on her. "All right, all right," she said, and heaved herself to her feet. "I gets de thread back out."

Dimo sat cross-legged and watched her work, using the light of the fire to see where the needle pushed through the stiff purple fabric. Meanwhile, Oggie was attempting to comfort Maxim about his flopping, still-useless hand. "Iz not so bad," Oggie said, and slapped Maxim heartily on the shoulder. "Iz only been three hours! Giff it six or seven and it vill be fine again. Or if not," he said, looking suddenly brighter, "next time de gorls tells hyu dot hyu have a vandering hand, hyu gots an excuse!"

"Hit von't be fine again," said Dimo in a low voice, so that only Jenka could catch it. "Fake Heterodyne after fake Heterodyne. Some day even Mamma Gkika von't be able to put us back togedder again. How long before ve just fall apart?"

"Long enuff," said Jenka. "Long enuff to find him."

"Hyu still tink ve's going to find a real Heterodyne?" said Dimo. He fished inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask. When he un-stoppered it, the sweet-and-sharp scent of brandy filled Jenka's nose. "I find I is not such a ... _optimist_, dese days."

"Vatch hyu mouf," Jenka said sharply. She didn't move fast enough to attract Maxim and Oggie's attention, but she made sure Dimo was well aware of the presence of her belt knife in her hand. She cut the thread on Maxim's hat with a slow and deliberate motion, holding Dimo's attention as she did so. "It dun matter if ve find vun or not. Ve iz still Jägers. Ve serve de Heterodyne. So either ve find vun, and tings go back to normal. Or ve don't, and ve go avay like de Heterodynes haff done."

Dimo only grunted, and tipped the contents of the flask into his mouth. Jenka didn't miss the flicker of his eyes, and followed his glance over to the other two boys, still yammering away – _like a pair of eediots_, she thought, and shook her head fondly.

She got up, hat in hands, and dropped it unceremoniously on Maxim's head. "Dere," she announced, and folded her arms. The hat was a little crooked, and it had definitely seen better days. "Hoof," she said, regarding her handiwork. "Last year I replace de brim, and in June, I made new band – is hardly de same hat anymore!"

"Now _dot_ is an interestink qvestion," said Maxim. "If I replace every piece of my hat vit sometink new, is it still _my_ hat?" He tugged hard on the brim, pulling it low on his forehead at a rakish angle. He caught Jenka's eyes with his, and held them. "It still does vot it'z supposed to do, yez? So I says yez."

"Hmph. Hyu talks too much." Jenka shoved hard on the crown of Maxim's hat, pushing it down over his eyes. "Anyvay, I been tinking. I know dis noodle maker in Baden-Baden – his brudder is a Spark, mebbe he sell us a clenk-hand at a good price, yez?"

Oggie jumped to his feet. "Ooh! If I gets my whole arm cut off, I can mebbe get a big clenk gon for an arm?"

"No," said Jenka, Maxim, and Dimo at the same time. Oggie pulled a mournful face, the fire crackled, Dimo put the flask back in his vest, the color started to come back to Maxim's face as he laughed, and Jenka was grateful for small favors.


End file.
